


love drowns the fear

by hcneylesbian



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Beach Day, Day At The Beach, Keith (Voltron) is a Mess, M/M, Pining Keith (Voltron), Swearing, basically just a lot of tension lmao, keith has a fear of the ocean, klance, lance is pretty flirty, this is my ending writers block fic, we're probably not getting a beach episode so im giving the gays what they want
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-23
Updated: 2018-11-23
Packaged: 2019-08-27 18:24:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16707691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hcneylesbian/pseuds/hcneylesbian
Summary: He squishes his eyes together and when he reopens them, all he sees is the water getting darker as it reaches his waist, and all his brain conjures up is the image of slimy creatures surrounding his legs, seaweed dragging him down beneath the waves that sway him back and forth.“Lance,” he chokes out. His jaw is tight.“I got you, buddy. It’s okay.” Long, gentle fingers circle Keith’s arms, and he forces himself to relax into the startlingly warm touch. “Keith, focus on me. It’ll make it easier.”in which Lance helps Keith deal with his fear of the sea in favor of a worthy beach day, and Keith is pushed to shoot his shot





	love drowns the fear

**Author's Note:**

> hey guys! back after a bit. i've been toying with this idea for a while, and since i'm on a break, i decided to give it a shot. i hope you enjoy! also i haven't edited a whole lot rip

“Hey there loner.” A kick to his feet. “What’re you up to?”

Keith forces an eye open into a squint. Above him stands Lance, smile dimpling his cheeks, smooth tan skin glowing in the light of the sun.

And Keith thinks he’s going crazy because about five minutes ago, the boy was splashing in the water, playing a game of chicken fight with Hunk, Allura, and Romelle. About five minutes ago, he was holding onto Allura’s knees to support her, laughing loud enough to tickle Keith’s ears.

And now he’s here, dripping onto the sand at his feet, hair sticking up every which way, grin blinding. Through slightly blurry eyes, Keith takes in the curve of the boy’s stiff abdomen, slick with water droplets—he can almost _feel_ his pupils blow out—and he quickly drags his vision back up to his face. Lance’s expression shines with amusement.

“Like something you see?”

Feeling his cheeks burn, because maybe he _did_ find a bit too much pleasure in seeing the abs Lance had formed over the years, he rubs at his face. He must have fallen asleep. “I’m avoiding the sun.”

Lance’s eyebrow flicks upward and he rolls his eyes, smile intact. “Avoiding the sun? On beach day?”

Well. “I don’t have anything else to do.”

“Why not come in the water?” the boy suggests with light sarcasm. “It’ll cool you down.”

There it is. The water. Keith’s gaze shifts to the vast expanse of water in front of them, and while the clear turquoise of the shallows is admittedly pretty, he squirms at the thought of touching anything in it. Anything past his waist, where the water starts getting murky, ties his stomach in uneasy knots.

“Ah,” he begins intelligently. He licks his lips, his mouth dry, and continues, “Now might be a good time to mention the fact that I don’t really like the ocean?”

Dumbfounded, Lance opens and closes his mouth a few times, his eyebrows contorting something mad. “What’d you come to the beach for then, dummy?” He scoffs lightly into a chuckle at the thought.

“I don’t know,” Keith murmurs. He slowly forces himself into a sitting position, eyes widening as he’s right in front of Lance’s face then.

The boy had crouched down while he sluggishly moved, and now he’s squinting into Keith’s eyes, and he can see some sort of plan grinding in the gears of Lance’s brain.

He swallows thickly.

“You shouldn’t be alone.” Lance nods with an alarming amount of conviction, moving back to rest in a crouch. “What if I helped you get over that fear?”

Keith frowns. “Probably impossible.”

“Ah-ah, never say never! Learned that from JB. Come on, get up.”

Lamely, Keith attempts to say no, but then Lance is grabbing his hands and at that point he’s just a well-supported putty.

He snatches his hand away when they reach the shoreline and crosses his arms across his broad chest. “No, Lance, this isn’t happening.”

The brunet turns around to face him, crossing his arms over his own chest. “Okay, just tell me what it is that scares you.”

“Why on earth would I tell you that?”

“Because otherwise I’m going into this blindly,” is all he replies with, and Keith is left more confused than ever.

Tightening his hold on himself, Keith grunts out, “I don’t like slimy things touching me. I don’t like not knowing what’s touching me in general. Murky water makes me experience what I can only describe as a primal fear.”

Lance wrinkles his nose. “It’s not the shark thing?”

“No,” Keith rebuts, and he almost feels offended. Of course he’s not a simple bitch.

All of a sudden, Lance bursts out into this stupid hearty laugh, one that’s shaking him and flexing his stomach muscles, which Keith dumbly notes to himself.

“Many people consider it a smart fear. We don’t know 95% of the shit out there, Lance.” Keith self-consciously pulls his arms closer.

“Fine, fine. But you might not even have to deal with those things, Keith. This isn’t the deep sea. And there are so many pretty things out there to see! I mean, maybe I’m a bit biased, but just try it? For me?”

Something blooms in Keith’s chest at the pout he receives, and he’s maybe a bit flattered that Lance favors his opinion so much right now. “I don’t know…”

With a more serious look, Lance moves closer, forces Keith’s arms apart, and keeps hold of one of his wrists. “Listen. I’m not gonna let you waste your beach trip. I’ll be there the whole time, and any time you wanna go back to land, I’ll take you back. You can even try to swim back to shore faster if a shark happens to pop up, okay?”

Keith melts a bit.

“I won’t be faster.”

Lance beams. “Never say never.”

 

“I regret this. I thoroughly regret this.”

“It’s barely at your thighs man, just relax.”

Keith is a ball of tension, every muscle he can possibly imagine contracted; whereas Lance is nice and lax, an easy smile on his face, simple movements pulling them both along.

Gulping down deep breaths, Keith tries to slowly loosen his shoulders. The water is, admittedly, nice and chilling, almost refreshing in a way—though it would be more enjoyable if Keith didn’t cringe at everything his feet brushed up against.

He squishes his eyes together and when he reopens them, all he sees is the water getting darker as it reaches his waist, and all his brain conjures up is the image of slimy creatures surrounding his legs, seaweed dragging him down beneath the waves that sway him back and forth just slightly.

“Lance,” he chokes out. His jaw is tight.

“I got you, buddy. It’s okay.” Long, gentle fingers circle Keith’s arms, and he forces himself to relax into the startlingly warm touch. “Keith, focus on me. It’ll make it easier.”

People around them laugh and shout, the sun shines ever-so-brightly, and slowly but surely, Keith opens his eyes that he’s had clenched tight for the last minute or so.

And, wow.

Lance is looking over him with a smile, a new type of smile that Keith isn’t used to. It’s small, softens his eyes, and it feels so _intimate_ that Keith’s breath hitches.

After a second, Lance’s eyes dart back and forth between his, eyebrows furrowed with concern. Freckles dot his high cheekbones, and Keith trails his gaze along the boy’s jawline—which is exceptionally sharp, he might add.

In that moment, he wants to hold Lance back and just kiss him.

“Are you okay?”

A nod.

“Okay, just keep looking at me. I’ve got you.”

 

Back on land, Keith sits with his feet just barely in the water, inhaling deeply. It wasn’t that bad. It really wasn’t, and Lance held true to his word and brought him back as soon as he asked. He also didn’t make fun of him, not even after they were back on solid ground, which Keith is _very_ thankful for.

In his peripheral vision he sees Lance join him. The boy rests back on his elbows, crosses his legs, and lifts his face to the sky.

“Was it terrible?” he asks after a few seconds of rest.

“Awful. Worst thing I’ve ever done, especially the part where I had to be stuck with you.”

Lance just has that stupid fond smile on his face, which makes Keith duck his own reddening face out of the way.

“Sorry ‘bout it. I really thought I could help.” And he says it so seriously that Keith looks to him, tries to see through his easygoing mask—but he wears it so well.

Keith splays his fingers in the sand, fingers busying themselves with the soft textures. “Well, last time I went out, I couldn’t stop squirming and shouting every time I looked down. I think I’d call that progress.”

At that, Lance shifts his body from the sky to Keith, an excited look lighting him up. “For real?”

Sometimes it still surprises Keith how much easier they talk now. How they still banter, still get a rise out of each other, but it doesn’t always have to be that way. They can just talk. Like friends.

“Yeah, for real.”

Lance looks so proud of himself for a split second. It’s fast, but Keith catches it, and he leans back himself, relaxing his body.

“I really do love the ocean,” Lance says quickly, filling up the silence. “One of the first things I learned to do was swim. I—my family are assholes.” He laughs to himself, a personal little joke, and Keith finds himself leaning closer as he does, soaking up every second. “I mean, they’d just chuck me several feet away from them, and tell me I had to make my way back to get their help. I just had to paddle like hell, you know, like my life depended on it. Actually, I guess it did.”

Keith finds himself chuckling at the _dumb_ way Lance says it, so much that a snort comes out.

He feels eyes on him. “Oh, shut up!” Lance shakes his head and chuckles himself. “ _Anyway_ , I came here so much as a kid that people said I practically lived in the water. And I was a champion in _many_ community races.”

Keith stops laughing to listen, but a small smile still raises his cheeks. “Oh, really?” he says, his tone amused.

Lance scoffs. “Uh, yeah! I was great.”

“I believe it.”

There’s a moment of quiet between them, a comfortable silence. Keith looks out to the water, dipping his toes in, and glances back.

“I just thought maybe I could share this with you.” It just flows out of Lance’s mouth, simple as ever, and Keith notes how much more he wants to close the gap between them each time they end up like this.

 

They spend a while apart, as Lance ends up back in the water with the kids in his family, and Keith gets roped into a game of volleyball. He’s good, as he is with many things, but with this likely just because he’s very competitive.

The sun beats down on them, and Keith’s sweating and feeling the heat, and it only brings him great satisfaction.

He’s got this in the bag.

At the final tie-breaker—putting him and Shiro on opposite teams certainly balanced things out—everyone is running and shuffling around in the sand, shouting aggressive support at teammates. In one final, intense moment, Keith jumps toward the net and smacks the ball down hard.

He successfully spikes it.

His team throws their arms around him, screaming support in his ear. He shifts around to express his terrible discomfort (yes, he’s just dramatic), but can’t wipe the telling smile off his face.

For just a quick second, he glances out to the water to see if Lance happened to be watching. Not that he’d care, or whatever.

He’s leaning down in the water, picking up a nephew that’s begging to be thrown around, but he spares a second to check out the commotion. Immediately he laughs a bit, and when he catches Keith’s eye, he sports a little thumbs up, then turns his back to pay attention to the kids crowding around him.

Yeah, fuck it, Keith is whipped.

He feels a rough smack to his shoulder. Christ, Shiro still doesn’t realize his strength. “I think a ‘congrats’ is in order! Good job, I really thought we had it there.”

Keith spins around quickly, wanting to distract from the fact that he was staring rather longingly out at the water just a second ago. “Thanks, man. Guess you were wrong.”

“Next time.” Shiro confidently nods, mirth dancing in his eyes. “So, how are things going?”

After a moment of realization, looking at Shiro’s dumb face, Keith answers, “I think you should shut up right now.”

“With…code blue?”

“Shiro, I will not hesitate to spike the ball onto your head.”

The man chuckles at his angsty, tiny brother. “I’m just saying, you guys have spent a lot of time together today. Maybe you should make your move.”

He walks away, allowing Keith’s face to brighten in peace.

 

Later, they’re put in charge of watching Lance’s baby nephew while the parents go on a food run.

Lance pulls the small boy onto his thigh, bouncing it gently, and the child giggles and places tiny fists in front of himself for balance.

Fondly, Lance coos, “You having fun with Uncle Lance-y Lance? Yeah?” He beams brightly at the boy, eyes widening and mouth opening into silly expressions that the baby laughs even harder at.

Keith settles himself behind them, just slightly, his heart doing somersaults in his chest. This guy is so _fucking_ kind and sweet and now he’s good with kids, and Keith feels lucky that he’s not in his line of sight because he’s gotta look borderline fucking lovesick right then.

He hugs his knees, rests his chin on them, and breathes in the moment. The sky is painted gorgeous pink and purple and orange hues, the sun burns a low red dipping beneath the crashing waves, couples hold each other; and Keith is captivated by the most handsome boy he’s ever seen.

Kind brown eyes crinkle with delight at his nephew, swooping hair rests along his forehead in waves, strong but gentle arms support the baby.

He’s gorgeous.

“Do we want to let Keith hold you?” Lance turns around slowly to catch Keith in his moment, smile unfaltering and giddy. “Keith, do you want to hold him?”

He blinks. “Oh, uh…Lance I don’t know. I don’t want to scare him or anything.”

Lance’s face shows how stupid he thinks that sounds, but it’s like he can’t wipe the smile away while holding the kid. “You’re not gonna scare him! He’s, like, the friendliest baby ever. Here—just try—there you go.”

He scoots closer and hands the infant over with care.

They’re knee to knee now. He’s completely, totally under Lance’s watch.

“Hey, kiddo,” he says quietly, holding the boy close against his abdomen.

“Gabriel, his name is Gabriel,” Lance supplies.

“Gabriel,” he repeats. Gabriel grabs onto Keith’s finger and puts it in his mouth, gurgling cheerfully. “Oh! Okay, that’s cool. That’s fine—it tickles buddy.”

Laughter bubbles out of him, surprisingly, and when he looks up at Lance, the boy meets his expression.

“See? You’re fine. You’re a natural.” He leans forward and tickles Gabriel’s tummy, glee evident between them.

 

Minutes later, Keith notices the weight of the baby grow heavier against his chest, light gnawing turning to drool on his finger.

“He’s sleepy,” he whispers, drawing Lance’s attention to him. The boy walked away for a moment to pull on a soft-looking blue hoodie. “You wanna hold him?”

“Mm, you’re good with him, he’s comfy.” Lance reaches into the bag the parents left with him and grabs a small blanket, then drapes it across Keith’s lap.

“Is he asleep?”

Lance shakes his head. “Not yet.”

They sit quietly, both paying their attention to the kid. Keith shifts him a bit for comfort, is met with a few quiet whimpers, and Lance leans forward to stroke his hair.

Then, in a hushed voice, Keith hears what he thinks are lyrics.

“ _Well it’s been building up inside of me_

_For, oh, I don’t know how long_

_I don’t know why_

_But I keep thinking something’s bound to go wrong_.”

Keith’s hooked. He keeps a firm, careful hold on Gabriel, but everything in him is moving toward that voice.

Soft. Lance’s voice is soft and melodic, carrying the tune beautifully at an almost whisper.

Keith isn’t sure he could fall any more.

“ _But he looks in my eyes_

_And makes me realize_

_And he says, ‘don’t worry baby’_

_Don’t worry baby_

_Don’t worry baby_

_Everything will turn out alright_.”

When he looks back up, Keith almost loses his breath, as he finds that Lance is looking right back at him.

He has the corners of his lips upturned faintly and his gaze his fixed right on Keith—who notices all too much the cute, slight dip of Lance’s nose rather close to his own, and he’s pretty sure Lance just glanced down at his mouth, and—

He has to say something. He has to, because he wants to lean in and his brain-to-action filter isn’t exactly stellar at the moment.

“Lance, I—”

“Hey, guys! Sorry we took so long to get back,” Lance’s brother is saying, dropping down to get a look at his baby. “Aw, you guys put him to sleep. That boring, huh?”

Lance breaks his burning hot gaze away from Keith, who thanks any deities out there for his ability to catch a breath now, and startles. “Marco! Hi, yeah, he’s been great. Fell asleep just a few minutes ago.”

 _A few minutes?_   They were just sitting like that for a few _minutes_?

With a merry smile, Marco nods, and gently takes Gabriel from Keith’s lap. “Thanks for keeping an eye on him. We’ll see you guys later.”

It’s darker now, not pitch black, but pretty dusky and lit primarily by moonlight.

“ _The Beach Boys_ are always a good choice,” Lance breaks the thick silence. He scoots to be next to Keith on his towel. “Of course, it’d be better if I had backup singers.” He wiggles his eyebrows, and then hits Keith with a devastatingly smooth wink.

With a bit of a delay, as he takes a second to remember how to be a human being, Keith gets out, “You planning on some co-op babysitting in the future, Lance?”

The brunet bumps their shoulders together. “Why not? You were really good with Gabe.”

“Thanks.” His heart rate is rapid, mostly because of their situation moments earlier, but also because Lance didn’t move his shoulder away, and instead leaned further into Keith, and he doesn’t really know what to do with that. “Oh, and thanks for earlier, by the way.”

Lance spins his head in his direction—inches away, barely that—and asks a quiet, “What do you mean?”

“Well—for not being an asshole about my issue with the water. I appreciate it,” he finishes shortly, hoping Lance can read between the lines that he means for being kind, and patient, and for practically cradling Keith when he needed it even though he’d never ask, and for taking sacred time out of his day for seemingly no reason.

It seems that he does, because his expression turns soft, and he nods. “No problem, it was a good time. I mean, not your panicking, just—”

Keith shakes his head with a light chuckle. “I get it.”

The moon is dusting over the water at this point, reflecting brilliantly in the waves. People leave, or they stay, huddled together with families and loved ones as a chill has settled across the land.

“Do you need a jacket?” Lance asks, apparently realizing Keith’s lack of preparation in that sense.

“Uh, nah.” Keith folds in on himself more, though he realizes a good amount of his heat is coming from his side—goddammit, of course his crush is the warmest person on the planet.

A shrug. “Suit yourself. You can always cuddle up to the human furnace if you need it.”

Keith silently thanks the darkness for hiding his flushed cheeks.

Then, before he can think about it, he does slide closer to Lance, fitting himself snug in the space that was once between them.

The boy invited him to do so, right? And it’s cold, and he’s never been much of a man of words, but he hopes like hell that Lance might pick up on his actions.

The timing just feels right.

In one moment, Lance is looking at Keith like before, a gentle smile lifting his lips. In the next, he’s taking Keith’s arm and dragging it across his shoulders, heat from his body warming both of them. Then, in the next moment, he’s filling in every last gap between them.

His lips are tinged with salt, but they’re warm, and it’s _Lance_.

In the next moment, he pulls away, a dazed expression dressing his face.

“I’ve wanted to do that all day.” Keith slowly nods, cause _ditto_ , and grabs Lance’s hand for support. The boy shakes with a giggle, and he can feel his breath, cause he’s _that_ close.

He’s beautiful. Moonlight gleams across his face, and he’s looking at Keith like he _wants_ him—something he’s not quite used to, but that he never wants to go away.

Slowly, as though to not shatter the moment, he leans back in and catches Lance’s mouth, and a surprised moan slips out of the boy.

Never would he have thought that he’d be the person Lance chose to make out with on the beach.

But as the boy slips his hand up into his hair, deepening the slow, intimate movements, and as he pants against Keith’s lips when he finally pulls away, he knows he couldn’t be more wrong about that.

“Well, I’ve always wanted a passionate kiss in the moonlight. Now I can check that one off my bucket list.”

“I'm happy to help.”

 

When they’re finally leaving, Keith’s head is reeling and he’s positive he’s never smiled this much. For support, and well, because he wants to, he entwines his fingers with Lance’s. He can't imagine a better ending to beach day.

**Author's Note:**

> song creds-Don't Worry Baby by the Beach Boys  
> this was somewhat inspired by my friend having intense moments of eye contact with her crush lmao  
> lmk how you liked it!


End file.
